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I just completed browsing an interesting entry over at On Startups: Wimps Wait which is suggesting that releasing a product is more important than waiting. I believe, as in many things, there is a balance in the middle. Here is the takeaway I suggest from the blog.

Your product will never be to the point of you being comfortable at releasing it. You need to realize the point of diminishing returns on further tweaking it;

Revolutionaries release, wimps wait — be the first to market!

It is better to have customers with a half-way product that they accept, then a perfect product that hasn’t been released (i.e. zero customers);

You will be more reluctant about the times you didn’t release;

At the end of the day, “just ship it” — do your best and then let it go;

Take a look back and realize just how many times you thought you did work out all the bugs, all the time spent, and at the end of the day, customers will were unhappy or found bugs — will waiting on your release for two more months really make a difference;

To succeed, you must release — product in development doesn’t bring in revenue;

At the end of the day, be it product or service, you need to understand when you have done your best, and that more time will not significantly improve your product/service, and you just need to let it go into the marketplace and see how well it does. Be ready to adapt and change as necessary. Fix bugs, rework contracts, etc. But a few grumpy clients are better than none when you’re starting out.

A business associate of mine was describing a new leveraging of the Linked In technology. The concept is simple, use Linked-In to discover the name of key people: recruiter, directors, principles, etc., for the company you’d like to work for and directly submit your resume to them via e-mail or postal mail. The rationale behind this is that often when submitting your resume through the proper channels on the corporate website, or via Monster/Dice/etc your resume may be automatically filtered out because of some negative keyword. However, by directly submitting a resume, it will increase the likelihood of it being read by a human and therefore you have a higher chance of being contacted.

However, on the other end of the spectrum, I cannot count the number of times I’ve received a unsolicited resume, for a position we don’t have or have then need for. It frequently makes me wonder how much they really want to work for my company, instead of just “some” company.

I guess the reason for the offense is my perspective of the hiring process:

1) You should be looking for a job position which specifically matches your skill set;

2) You should be looking for a company which matches your work culture/ethic;

3) You should want to work specifically for our company for a specific reason. If it came down simply to businesses (title, pay, etc., all the same) I want you to have a reason to want us.

Sending out an unsolicited resume says that you’re willing to take anything from anyone – that it really simply comes down to price. But the reality is most people leave their jobs for reasons other than money. Sure, we all would like to get paid more. But frequently there are other underlying problems. If pay is what will make you choose me, then you might simply leave when it suits you.

I was discussing with a friend over lunch about the concept of micro-loans and peer-to-peer lending. They have had an amazing rate of success recently, and I believe those programs will only increase in 2009, especially as banks continue to tighten down on who they’re lending to.

This brought about an idea: would you contribute $100 towards the success of another entrepreneur? A network of individuals who understand the power of collaborative efforts, investing in the future, and the benefits of new start-ups. Say, we were to pull together 5 sponsors per business and then distribute those funds to pre-qualified businesses. What our primary checkpoints would revolve around business concept solvency and a non-negative business/criminal record. Personal credit score may not apply.

A growing trend is the concept of a Counter Offer – those being a special offer provided to an employee, which tendered their resignation to the company, in an attempt to avoid loosing them. The reasons appear straight forward – you know you have a good employee who knows the company and ‘system’ and it is a lot of work to interview and train a new employee. However, here are a few good reasons not to offer a “counter offer”

There is likely a reason they are leaving the company, if they believe they are entitled to more pay, then why was it you didn’t provide a raise sooner?

Think on how this affect morale of the fellow employees? (He is just staying for the money.)

80% of employees which accept a counter still end up leaving after 1 year.

Money is never the solution to problems, so there are underlying issues which may or may not be addressable.

How do you think their choice to leave the company will affect you view of them, both today and during the next performance or annual review?

If you had to lay someone off, how much more likely will it be this person?

So what have you really kept or bought? Perhaps a bit more time, which may be worth it – to find a replacement. But otherwise, there is little value in thinking you can keep them around for a long time.

We’ve been performing a slew of interviews lately for technical positions, and have encountered at least half of all candidates who are not prepared for the interview and make errors which tend to stick out more than their selling points. After reviewing an article on Monster.com (of whom we review resumes through) we noticed they had a list of 10 tech interview errors, which are the same problems we’re having. As either an interviewer or interviewee, keep an eye out for them:

Appearance: Relaxed as today’s silicon valley companies are, many people are still remembering to dress up for the interview, put on a suit and tie, but they don’t notice the details. Such as, the have unpressed shirts (perhaps thrown in the dryer before the interview) or worse yet, wrinkled! Your shoes should fit the rest of the outfit – yes, we’ve seen sneakers attached to people in suits!

Arrogance: We’ve interviewing you because of your resume, you’ve already bragged – now I need to know how well you can work with the existing team and company culture – if it’s “all about you” then you can be “all you” somewhere else.

Overemphasizing Skills: Again, we’ve seen your resume that you’ve been honest with – but how have you applied your knowledge – what wisdom have you gained. Any certification or textbook means little without real world experience to apply that knowledge. Yes, we want MCSE and CCNP, but what can you really do with it?

Not Communicating: Interview questions are rarely “close ended” – so a simple yes or no will not do. If we ask if you know a skill set, expand upon it with application, experience or a scenario.

Unprepared: You should be selecting us as much as we’re selecting you – if you don’t care who you work for, then we won’t care to hire you. Visit our website, understand our industry, or competitors and products – and most of all, know why you want to work for us, specifically.

Lack of Interest: Again, interviews are a two way conversation and process. You should be looking for a match as well, not just enduring the interview process. Be excited about each 2nd, 3rd, 4th interview. Express to me that you’re longing for the group interview, company tour, or ask probing questions. When we’re asking you questions, don’t look for the quickest route out of the scenario – ask questions back.

Too Eager for Perks: Only at the end, when you know you’ve landed the job with us, should you begin asking about perks. If you’re not a fit for us, or worse yet, if we’re not a fit for you, does it really matter if we’re going to pay relocation expenses, 401(k) matches, etc? If you’re interviewing and you already have a job, you know that perks have little to do with sticking at a company – they’re simply icing on a good cake. If you like the company, then perks are great. Save these towards the end.

Too Casual: Let the interviewer set the tone, and then, always step it up just a small notch. Sit upright in your chair, until they relax. If they don’t, then avoid slouching, etc. We want to see you on the edge of your seat!

Too Negative: The negative person can be a black hole for any company – if you come across as negative, we cannot afford to hire you. Don’t talk about negative stuff going on with your family or current position. I want to know how you positively dealt with disagreement in the workplace, not how your coworker is a jerk.

Failure to Close: Don’t let an interview die, it should close with a bang – just like the finale for fireworks or a musical theater number – something for you to remembered for. Also, end it with finality, instead of a best-man’s wedding toast that seems to never, ever end. Ask what the next steps are, express excitement about the next interview, receiving an offer letter or simply working for the company! Be brief, but let me know that you’re interested, and then get out, don’t linger around like a stray cat.

Respect time – understand the time-window for the interview, do your part to keep within the time-frame – if it’s an hour (which you should always expect unless informed otherwise), and you’re coming to the end of an hour, be ready to close (#10 above) at any moment.

Remain true to yourself and your philosophy. Changing in the face of adversity will in fact diminish your credibility with your customers.

When I think about that, I remember the numerious entrepreneurs that I’ve known, many who start off in network marketing, MLM type businsesses. They go at it for a while and then when adversity faces them — such as three months past due and staring down the eviction path, they jump ship.

Now I’m not advocating that you stick with a sinking ship. But at the same time, people jump from product-to-product, venture-to-venture, so quickly and frequently that they loose credibility with their business partners. I can think of a networking group I belonged to a while back, and this wonderful lady changed her profession three times within a period of one year. Do you think I have any faith in her ability as a business person. Would I send clients her way? How would I or anyone be certain that she would be around to continue to service my company?

Now, through my businesses, we have continued to work on the cutting edge of professional services, yet always staying within our core compentancy, as well as continuing to strongly serve our existing clients – and never dropping a service — rather we keep expanding and plus-ing our service; again, all within the very narrow relam of our core compentancy.

Here is a quick tip — when it comes down to the matter, the person with the more documentation, paperwork, records, etc., will win. Second to that is communication – the person who communicates the most, via e-mail, letter, phone, will win. Whatever you are dealing with, from customers, clients, employees, or the government — in any legal (or potential legal) matter, the one who can substantiate their side with documentation will prevail. It really doesn’t matter who is right or wrong, it is who can prove their case better with solid documentation.

Do you have a corporation? Then you do have all of your corporate minutes, annual shareholders and directors meetings? Written consent agreements for all director level actions?

How about employees? Are you documentation disciplinary action, raises, verbal notices? How about proper timekeeping records?

And what about your clients/vendors? You always have a written contract, documented project descriptions, project scopes, payment terms?

Keep that printer and scanner busy — wear them out with the amount of paperwork and documenting you perform.